Nashville’s Next Mayor Probably Won’t Cut Your Taxes

If history is any guide, Nashville’s next mayor will raise taxes, though no candidate wants to admit that. So WPLN asked about cutting taxes, and that doesn’t sound likely.

Property taxes are the city’s largest funding source. Only charter school founder Jeremy Kane thinks a tax cut is even on the table.

“Without a doubt, that is a possibility,” Kane says. “As mayor that would be how I’d want to manage. How do we provide the services folks want at the efficiency we need?”

There is a technical point worth clarifying. Every three years, property is reappraised automatically. That often requires the city to lower its tax rate since values usually increase. The law is meant to prevent local governments from generating more revenue by artificially inflating appraisals. But that’s not what we asked the candidates for mayor. Could the amount people pay in property taxes actually go down?

“What mayor would not want to leave office saying I cut taxes? The reality is, though, that at this point, I don’t see that as an option,” says Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry.

During the campaign, real estate investor Bill Freeman has decried how surrounding counties have lower taxes than Nashville. But he doesn’t anticipate being able to cut taxes either.

“I pay more property taxes than I’m sure any candidate in this field and most folks. I would love to see taxes go down. I don’t think that’s realistic. If we could hold the line and not increase taxes, I would say we had a good day,” Freeman says.

Growth in the tax base corresponds with a need for additional city services, like police officers or sewer drains, says at-large council member Megan Barry. She contends the city is playing catch up to some degree.

“I think that our property tax has grown, but that’s also been allocated to pay for a lot of the investment we’ve already made in Nashville,” she says.

While most candidates don’t see a property tax cut in the cards, attorney Charles Robert Bone has some ideas about how to avoid raising property taxes.

“I do think we have the opportunity to expand our sales tax base maybe even more efficiently and faster than we’re expanding our property tax base,” Bone says.

Candidates remain generally vague on their tax plans. But no one is even hinting at a big overhaul.

“My view is our tax structure is pretty equitable and reasonably robust now to pay for what we need to pay for,” says former school board chairman David Fox.

Still, it’s nice that the city is in a position that cutting taxes isn’t a crazy idea, says businesswoman Linda Eskind Rebrovick.

“It’s great that we can even ponder that question.”

The Candidates, Uncut